“Every time you make a little win for a kid is better than a classful of A* in mainstream.”
Like the vast majority of teachers in the Kedleston Group, Bernadette Phillips, Science Teacher at Arc Oakbridge School started her teaching career in mainstream education.
“Working in a large comprehensive for me, meant always having to settle,” she said. “The target-based cultures seemed to work against giving all children the individual support they needed and indeed for management it felt like the individual child never mattered: only the cohort did. Moving into special education has changed all that.”
Bernie is goldust. With an MSc in chemistry, and an early career working for multinational Procter and Gamble, she brings deep subject expertise, an understanding of the business world to her work, as well as a deeply caring nature.
Some people are surprised that children at a special school study science. Bernadette says: “Of course they learn science! They follow the National Curriculum up to Key Stage 3 and they’re getting 7s, 8s and 9s. In Years 10 and 11 children study a Gateway curriculum applied level 2. These children are clever, they’ve just not had the opportunity to learn.
“I’m very experienced at looking at curriculum, ordering topics; there’s lots of scope to make the curriculum work for the individual and this job encourages that and it demands that.”
Newer children, who have almost exclusively had bad experiences at previous schools can be more reticent, or may have issues with particular tasks, and Bernadette encourages them. She explains:
“When we were studying electronics one girl was scared of the mains, so I had to be very gentle with her and let her go at her own pace. When she managed to switch on her lightbulb she just grinned. Another staff member told me she had been talking about it for the rest of the day. Now that sort of achievement just wouldn’t get celebrated in a mainstream school, and in fact the child might be told off for not co-operating.”
Indeed it is the emotional reward of seeing children who have been excluded, or let down in other schools, that motivates Bernadette. She says:
“The grins that come when they get something right are the absolute best part of the job. And they are massively appreciative. They are beautifully kind, they care for each other, the older ones look after the younger ones, and even if a child is having a hard time themselves, which happens with autism, they still consider others. They take an interest and get excited about learning. As a science teacher I get to do some quite ‘cool’ stuff with them and they just want to dive in and try things.”
Unsurprisingly, Bernadette was in high demand and before starting at Arc Oakbridge had three job offers to choose between. She reveals:
“It was the head teacher, Phil, who sold this to me. His passion and his care for the children was so evident; they have high expectations of the teachers but he also has the ability to reflect, and to lead the entire staff in reflection, and that is so important both for wellbeing but to improve practice, too.”
Another advantage that Bernadette notes is the closeness of the relationship with parents. She says: “We are always in touch with them. In mainstream you perhaps saw a child’s parents twice a year. It’s good for the child that everyone talks.”
Working with children with special needs can be more rewarding and enjoyable: “Hearing other people’s golden moments – something we share at the end of every week – and tiny little wins, hearing how seemingly impossible tasks have been completed by the children, means we go home most days with smiles as big as the children’s.”